The Antec NSK3480 is a solidly-built and well-designed case except perhaps for a couple of features. First the front panel looks and feels a little cheap, and second there isn't room for a standard-sized power supply when using a full-sized optical drive.

My solution was to use a slimline slot-load laptop DVD-RW drive which gives enough space for a Corsair HX650W PSU, and to design a new front panel to be cut from black anodised aluminium. The laptop optical drive was mounted in a butchered 5 1/4" drive case along with a Sandisk Imagemate card reader.

The computer is running OS X for photo and video editing, using the following components:

The panel cost â‚¬29 to make (or â‚¬43 with shipping and VAT). You download Front Panel Designer from their website, use the software to create your panel, it calculates the cost and allows you to upload the design for manufacture.

The plastic panel of the NSK3480 is made up of 3 parts. I glued the new 2mm aluminium panel onto the outer one of those.

Nice looking computer. Please show us the insides. Also, what method did you use to install OSX? Not a bad price on that custom front panel although I suspect getting all the measurements correct was a delicate job.

Very nice! The front panel has always been one of the few things I've disliked about these cases. Mine's holding up better than I'd expected, but would have been nice if they had used some more robust plastic. The aluminum front panel is a good idea, and the case looks great with the optical drive stealthed like that.

Bumping this again, does anyone know of a similar service in the US? I've always liked this mod, might be interested in adding an aluminum front panel to mine if I can get it fabricated without spending too much ($50 or so would probably be the absolute max, not sure if this is doable).

Didn't even consider that, but yeah, it looks like you're right. Thanks, will look into this and see what prices are like.

edit: Took some very rough measurements and did a design just to get an idea of price. Came out to about $50 for black anodized aluminum, 2.00mm thickness. At the upper end of what I was willing to pay, so not really sure if I will go through with it. Will have to think about this some more.

Anyway, if anybody wants to do something similar in the US or Canada, the site is below.

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